Know The Difference
by AkabaneKazama
Summary: Ichigo always knew that there is this difference between Youkai and Hollow/The continuation of 'Always Use The Resource Efficiently'/Part 4 of 'Tony Stark Adopted Ghost-Sensitive Kids' series/PART 4 COMPLETE/PLEASE READ THE PREVIOUS STORY ON MY PROFIL


**KNOW THE DIFFERENCE**

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 **Disclaimer** : Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and Iron Man belongs to Marvel

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 **Genre** : Humor

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 **Warning** : **Typo** is my most loyal fan. **Spelling mistakes** because English is not my mother language. Possibly **OOC. Fluff. NOT BETA** so beware of grammar mistakes

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 **Summary:** Ichigo always knew that there is this difference between Youkai and Hollow.

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 **(A/N):** I finally watch Avengers Infinity War. One word:

GODDAMIT CLIFF-HANGER!

This Bleach is pretty much AU. Because I need to insert the Youkai and the role of the Mistress here.

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When Ichigo was still a kid, he could tell that there are two types of creatures; ghost and Youkai. It's easy to identify them. Ghost came from the death of a human, transparent and usually have a chain on their chest; but that just usually and that means the ghost was recently dead. Youkai is basically on another level; sometimes they born from the dead human, that they've stayed on the living planet long enough, couldn't pass on and was turned into a Youkai by the energy around the earth. Some of the ex-ghost maintained their human appearance, some of them took another form entirely. Sometimes Youkai was practically born looking like a monster. The easiest way to differentiate which one is which was, Ayakashi was a lot more solid than a ghost.

That was why when his mother was gone, the only thing he could do to lessen the pain was helping his sisters around the house and the ghosts who was recently passed away; persuade them to _please_ , passed on. If they don't want to and was waiting to change into a Youkai, he couldn't force them. One of the ghosts he met before said it was because he wanted to see his family grew up, he didn't want to leave them alone, even though his family couldn't see him anymore.

Now he learned about the existence of the third creature.

A hollow.

He didn't know why he never met them before—maybe they have their own place to live and now can finally come here because some _clumsy_ Shinigami forgot to close the Senkaimon—but when he realized the Hollow was targeting all the Ghost, consuming them cruelly like they were a mere snack and not a living being, he couldn't just stand still. Sure, he acted like he didn't care when Rukia asked him to exorcised the kid that time. Yet the thought of those innocent ghosts, eaten just because some monster thought they exist solely for the monster to satiate their hunger, cease from existence—

While they have a family they wish to see. A family they were forcefully left because of a cruel fate. Because of an unlucky incident. Because he was too late. Too naive. _Too weak! I'm sorry, Mama I'm sorry—_

(He hoped. He _desperately_ hoped. That his mother passed on peacefully)

(That she didn't get eaten by a hollow and could live happily ever after in the afterlife. _Please_ )

So it was a jarring experience for him when Rukia shrieked and pushed Ichigo to do a Soul Burial quickly because that thing is so scary, _what the heck, it has twelve hands!_

"You never see a Youkai before, Rukia?" he asked, watching the petite girl trying to duck behind his figure, "it's just a Hecatonchires. Hello sir."

" _OoOh...A hUmAn. YoU cAn SeE uS?"_ Ichigo nodded. The green creature with twelve hands and three heads laughed uproariously, face basked in joy, _"OoOoH...iT's bEeN a WhIlE sInCe A HuMaN sTrIkE a CoNvErSaTiOn WiTh Us. Do YoU hAvE sOmE TiMeS To SpEaK wItH tHiS OlD MeN?"_

It was kind of hilarious though, that Ichigo was having a good talk with the Youkai yet Rukia kept hiding behind him; waiting for the nice Demon to strike her when she careless enough to drop her guard down. He waved at the Hecatonchires—the old Youkai said he wanted to visit a Yoko near the shrine, his friend that was an ex-Ghost—and turned to meet the frightened girl, "seriously, is this your first time seeing them? There are no Youkai in Soul Society?"

"...no. I haven't," She hesitantly straightened her posture, glaring at the still amused orange-haired teen, "Yes, I heard my brother talked about Youkai, although I never met them in a flesh before. Not in Rukongai. Not even near the Shinigami barrack. Granted, this is my first time staying in the human world for this long. I've been here a couple of times but never realized their shape was something like...that."

"Hmm...maybe they have their own realm? Like those hollow?" Ichigo mussed, "I've been seeing them since I was a kid. I thought you know everything, as you're a shinigami and all~"

" _Shut up!"_

He felt like the world was making fun of her, since in almost every corner during their journey to Orihime's house—being the plump girl want to do a group study for an exam that will be held in the next week—they encountered many Youkai; be it a human looking one (Rukia was confused because they didn't have any chain on their chest) or another monster looking one, striking a short conversation whenever they realized Ichigo could see them. Ichigo was silently laughing. He was sure the ex-Shinigami going to pay him for this, but it was worth it.

His fun was cut short when he heard a familiar roar. They snapped their attention instantly, to the towering hollow on the far north; it shaped like a humongous bear, with the mask hanging low on its jaw and the hole on its stomach. Without any prompting, Ichigo swallowed the soul pill—threatened Kon not to do anything funny with his body—and shunpoed to the scene.

It was fortunate that there was almost nobody on the street, just a couple of dogs and cat near the trash bin, looking for something to eat. Although, his brown eyes narrowed into a slit, there was a man walking on the pavement, slowly coming to the place where the Hollow was. He was too caught up playing with his phone and hearing some music, it seemed, as he watched that mouth moving and body swayed, following the slow and upbeat tune only himself could hear. The thing that made him stop for a moment was—

Is that man possessed?

Because he saw something on his shoulder. Something like...a skeleton. Wearing a black veil, floating, hugging him from behind and stared at whatever the man was doing on his phone.

He met possessed humans before; they become easily tired and sick. He hoped that the skeleton was hanging around him for a moment. Just curious what was that human doing and not permanently possessed him. Or he needs to do a force soul burial on...her? Her.

He shifted his focused back to the hollow. Now that Ichigo was near him, its sensed his presence and turned his attention toward him. With another loud roar that rumbled the ground—lucky that he was on the air right now—the monster punched, fist ready. The orange-haired teen unsheathed his bulky blade, crouched low and _moved._

* * *

When Kon/Ichigo and Rukia finally arrived at the battle scene, the Hollow was already slain. Ichigo was walking down from the bare air, strapping his blade back to its place, "good job, Ichigo. It only took ten minutes. And no casualties this time."

"Yeah, the hollow was pretty slow. I just need to flash step to his back and kill it from behind," he said, "oh, by the way, I saw a man possessed by some ghost over there."

"Possessed?"

"Uh huh. There's this skeleton floating near his shoulder. Oh, there he is." He pointed to the expensive looking suit man—still on his phone too. Man, it was lucky that the Hollow was stupid. Or else this man going to get squashed in a second, "and that's the gho—"

" _That's not a ghost!"_ Rukia suddenly hissed, orbs widened in shock.

"Huh?"

" _ **Hello, Kuchiki Rukia. Kurosaki Ichigo. Kon,"**_ he whirled when a foreign voice echoed. And was instantly face to face with the skeleton he just saw; looked like she approached them silently the moment his eyes were diverted from the pair. The man itself was still in the corner, leaning on the wall and was too busy playing with his phone, maybe he decided to stop for a bit before he crashes into someone. Now that they're this close, he could say that she's pretty. For a skeleton. She smiled, Ichigo felt her aura waved and seeped into his very being, _**"it's nice to finally meet a Japan shinigami. How's soul society doing?"**_

"We-we are doing fine, your Mistress!" Rukia bowed—that Rukia! That Rukia who was stubborn like a rock! _Bowed_!—she stuttered. The black-hair teen took a deep breath and continue, "I'm...not a shinigami at this moment though, Mistress."

" _ **Alas, you're still registered as one in my book. That means that you're going to get your power back someday, so don't worry."**_

"T-Thank you, Mistress."

Mistress? Ichigo hummed, clasped his chin between his fingers. Where did he hear that name before? Mistress...Mistress...

"Ah!" he almost shouted, barely held back at the very last moment, "you're the Mistress of Death?! The very boss of every shinigami, the central 46 and even the soul king?!"

Rukia told him before when he first becomes the substitute shinigami. Said that, as he was one of them for now, he needs to learn a history of Soul Society. She told him about how the Shinigami's rank work, what is their role, and their purpose to exist. She told him about the Soul King that pointed a particular spirit to be the member of Central 46 and gave them the full control of Soul Society's government, while the king itself was bound to his duty to regulate the flow of souls into and out of the realm of Shinigami and keep the flow stable

Rukia's older brother told her one day (it was supposed to be a secret. Only a captain should know. Still, he told Rukia anyway because if she wants to be a captain someday, she should know about this knowledge) that the Soul King was actually not on the top of the chain. Granted, he's the very king of Soul Society, but that just it. Soul Society was only for Japan prefecture, while in another country they have their own Soul Society. And the Soul King was actually just like the Central 46; pointed by the leader of all king and queen of the afterlife realm to rule over their section.

The name of their leader is Death.

 _The Mistress of Death._

"Ichigo! You're being rude!"

" _ **It's okay, Rukia Kuchiki. I read his biography; temperamental, have no tact, but has a nice heart and protective over what he considered his"**_ Ichigo wanted to protest but couldn't because he realized that it was right. He settled himself to grumble in silent. Kon just loudly laughed though and Ichigo smacked him over the head. The Mistress giggled.

"If I'm not bothering you, Mistress?" Rukia started. When the Mistress waved her hand to let her speak, she said, "what are you doing in this realm? If you want to reap the soul of the human, you can just ask one of us."

" _ **Oh no, I'm not on any duty today. I'm here for sightseeing,"**_ she answered, _**"and accompany my human, always. So I'll be there when he finally dies."**_

That sounded...morbid. Ichigo shuddered.

"And this human is—"

" _Me~"_

They swiveled their head to the source of the voice and realized that the man the Mistress 'possessed' before was finally here; grin wide and hands on hips, looking smug. The Mistress floated back to the man's shoulder as he tilted his head to the side and said, "I gotta say, that was a great battle, kid. Oh, and my name's Tony Stark. Nice to meet you."

* * *

"...wait. Great battle?" Ichigo frowned, "so you can see the Hollow?"

"Oh, so that was its name. J, don't forget to record that," he spoke to the phone, in which it blip once before it settled into its semi-sleep state, "and yes, I see the monster. I mean...how could you not? It was almost as big as my tower! And was that really your first question Ichigo-chan?" (chan?!) "not 'oh my god, you're Tony Stark!'. Or 'Can I have your photograph?!' Like that~"

"Tony Stark?" it was the teen's turn to tilted his head. As recognition flashed in his brown eyes, he snapped his finger, "oh, _that_ Tony Stark. I almost forgot."

"Wow, what a blase reaction," he looked half-disappointed, half-amused, "but it's a nice change of pace, so I forgive you."

"Riiight..."

"Tony Stark?" Rukia's whispered. She didn't know about him, it seems. He didn't blame her, as she didn't really watch television and was busy with her own duty. A human news was not interesting enough for her.

"He's Iron Man, a hero from America. An honest to God hero. Like, the one who can fly and shot magic through their hand. But it's more science as Tony build a suit that helped him fly and shot laser beam," Ichigo whispered back, "you saw Karin's superhero comic right? He's a real-life version of it."

Rukia let out a low hum in understanding; mouth took a shape of an O and eyes widened in awe, seeing the normal human in a new light. For a spirit, she was pretty enraptured with the mortal fairy tale. Just like a kid.

"Wait, don't change the subject!" Ichigo shifted his eyes back, scowled deepened, "if you saw the Hollow, why are you walking towards it? Yeah, you're slow and I finished the monster as quickly as possible. But what if I missed, the Hollow destroyed some building and the rubble hit you or something? You're going to die!"

" _ **The thing that I really want to see. But dying by an accident is not one that I prefer for you, Tony."**_

 _This Mistress of Death is really creepy,_ Ichigo belatedly thought, _how could she say something like 'death' to the person she claimed as hers? Does she like him or hate him?_

"But how can I recorded your awesome fight if I didn't come closer?" Tony pouted then showed him the phone he was holding this whole time. It was a video of a blank sky, nothing was there. But Ichigo knew it was the same place he and the Hollow were fighting. There was a graph on the side of the screen, fluctuating up and down, "yeah, there's nothing here. But at least I got the reading. Here, it shows how much power output you released. It was as powerful as Nyan-Nyan's flash attack and this was not even your full power, right? That was awesome! Maybe I can use this number to power up my beam? I'm not satisfied until it can penetrate a metal as strong as Vibranium and—"

They blinked when Tony tap incredulously fast on his phone, mumbling things they couldn't even understand; maybe that was why the media called him the Genius of an Einstein, Ichigo mussed, sweatdropped as the words keep coming out from his lips without pausing.

"SO!" he suddenly shot up, startling the teenagers from their staring. The brunette grin, "you're Shinigami huh? I thought your kind is going to look like this woman here," ('that's rude! That woman you're talking about is _the_ Mistress!', 'I don't think he heard you, Rukia'), "but you look like a normal person! Or maybe it was just your disguise and you really are a skeleton? Well, we humans do have a skeleton beneath our skin, but you know what I mean."

Ichigo looked at Rukia, asking silently if he should explain. Rukia looked at the Mistress. And the Mistress gave her a sign of a-okay.

" _ **Don't worry, Rukia Kuchiki. Tony will never blabber the secret, I'm here to assure that. And I'll also vouch for you if your leader decided to punish you just because of this."**_ The Mistress smiled, leaning her chin on top of Tony's locks, _**"don't ask anything sensitive though, Tony."**_

"I'm not~"

Rukia nodded and Ichigo shrugged.

"We retained our human appearance. Because we essentially a human being before we died," Rukia said, "maybe in another country the other Shinigami looks like a skeleton just like you said, as the Mistress herself was one. But in Japan, we're all human looking."

"I'm a half-Shinigami," Tony quirked his eyebrows and Ichigo explained, "I'm a human, but I have the power of Shinigami. Rukia lent hers to me. You see, I'm in my spirit form right now. And here is my actual body." He said, then pushed Kon/Ichigo for Tony to inspected, "the reason why he's still standing and breathing even though I was out was because I used a modified soul to keep my body from rotting."

"Modified soul?"

"Yeah," and, ignoring the protest of the soul, Ichigo pushed Kon aside. He spat the pill out and showed it to the beaming brunette; he literally has stars on that gleaming orbs, "this contained Kon's soul."

"So this mere pill have a soul in it? He has his own personality?"

"Yeah, he's a pervert."

"Amazing..."

" _ **I'm sorry for asking you to tell him about the work of Soul Society, Rukia Kuchiki,"**_ The Mistress floated away from the discussing duo, she decided to talk to the ex-Shinigami, _**"but he needs to know some of our cultures as Tony's fate is interwoven with so much trial and trouble, it almost like a tangled web. Just like Ichigo"**_

"Ichigo too?" Rukia was surprised. He thought her punk friend was just an unfortunate human she crashed into. A normal human she asked to shoulder a burden that should not be his. Though if the Mistress said that—

" _ **Yes. That's why I want you to always be there to help him. And when the time comes that something bad happens to you, your friend turned into your enemy..."**_ she elegantly waved. And a black feather appeared on her bony palm, _**"just give your leader this. He'll know that you're on my protection. Use it when you feel it was the right time."**_

" _ **And one more thing. I saw a bleak future awaiting us when I didn't give you any warning. We have to stop that no matter what. This is for the sake of the balance between life and death,"**_ Rukia gulped. For the Mistress of Death to said that, it must be something really big; even bigger than the massacre of the poor, innocent Quincy, _**"remember this, Rukia Kuchiki. The most damaged people are the wisest. But—"**_

" _ **The one who hides the darkness, smile the brightest."**_

The chilling wind blew the leaves away.

"Are you done there, Mistress?!" Tony voiced reverberated on the lonely street, startling Rukia from her staring. Ichigo stood with his phone out—it looked like he just exchanged his phone number with Tony Stark's (if Kengo heard about this, he's going to go berserk)—and the genius himself was looking at them curiously, "I need to be back before sunset. You know Takashi-chan going to be so mad if he realized I was out without notifying him again, right?"

" _ **I left a note on his desk, Tony. Don't be alarmed,"**_ she patted the still frozen Rukia and claimed her spot back, _**"do you want me to teleport you or asking Abeno Haruitsuki to lend you the Mononokean?"**_

"The latter of course. I still have a ton of questions to ask~"

" _ **You said you have to go back before sunset?"**_

"But you also said you already left a note, so I'm not worried," he dialed the number and put the phone on his ear, "Hello, Itsuki-chan. It's me. You busy? I wanna visit the sweet Mononokean. Come on, it's your duty, right? I'm not abusing the rule, I'm just stating the fact! Okay, the address is..."

"Those two are weird," Ichigo finally said after they opened someone's tool shed door and gone—he raised his eyebrows on that. Although he saw weirder things, so he didn't think about the vanishing act too much. He realized Rukia didn't move for the past minutes, jaw slightly unhinged and eyes covered by her bangs, Ichigo started to worry, "what's wrong, Rukia? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah." She stammered, still didn't look up and faced the concern Ichigo, "I'm okay."

She clasped the black feather gently yet firmly.

.

"I'm okay..."

* * *

 **OMAKE**

When that time comes, when the Soul Society decided Rukia had done something forbidden by giving a human her power, she showed the black feather to the shocked Byakuya and confused Renji. Rukia said there's a traitor in their rank and, as not to alarmed the said traitor, they have to proceed with the 'execution'.

The brother of the Kuchiki sent a hell butterfly, reporting the new development to their leader immediately. Ichigo was surprised when an old man came out from the Senkaimon, spilling a large amount of reiatsu, he almost choked on his own saliva. He looked grim. And with one look at the black feather Rukia held, he decided.

Geta-Boshi was baffled when the leader of the Shinigami visited him directly.

And he bowed without any prompt, kneeled to the startled Rukia. Apologized that he hide the very thing the traitor wanted inside her fake body.

The Hyougoku.

(Rukia still slap him for draining her spiritual power by giving her the defect fake body though)

Ichigo told his friend about the strategy. And yes, The Kuchikis and Renji knew about the plan, but not the other captains, as they didn't know which one was (or were) the traitor(s)—even though with the Death description, ' _ **The one who hides the darkness, smile the brightest',**_ they have a clear idea who was it. So they'll face a serious battle, not a fake one Ichigo and Byakuya will do. Yamamoto thought, if the traitor going to strike, it'll be right at the execution; in which, as Ichigo cares about his people, will try to save 'Rukia'. And Byakuya, as the brother of the Kuchiki, will try to uphold the law and fight back. And they couldn't have them tiring themselves out because they need manpower as much as they could, considering some of them will not be available for the fighting they'll face.

(Ichigo still thought they should share the plan with a couple of captain Shinigami, the one that they trust without a second guess, just in case. So Yamamoto conceded and said he'll tell Kyouraku and Ukitake. And maybe Hitsugaya, as one of his family was under the clutch of one of the people they thought was the traitor.)

His friends agreed nonetheless. Because as much as Ishida hates Shinigami, Rukia is their friend. Always will be. Ichigo nodded.

* * *

Aizen was surprised when his hand didn't grasp anything. Nothing. No Hyougoku in sight.

But that's impossible! He used the device Urahara invented himself to extracted the orbs, and killing Rukia in the process too. How could—

The body of Rukia didn't evaporate. Didn't even shimmered to nothingness.

It was only a normal fake body.

 _He was tricked!_

"It was a miracle Rukia didn't die from the extraction, you know." Byakuya, the man that he thought was too tired to stop him, stood in regal. Not a bit of exhaustion in his rigid posture. Ichigo too, as he hefted his big swords on his shoulder, glaring at Aizen with an intensity of a burning inferno, "I will still punish Urahara after this."

"Oooh, don't let me out of the loop, Byakuya. I need to give him a smack or two either. That geta-boshi is a sneaky bastard," he let out a low growl, "but we need to defeat this son of a bitch first."

Aizen refused to show his emotion _(his plan! His beautiful plan! Ruined!)_ and smugly said, "what? You two assumed you can beat me? A mere captain and a pitiful human?"

"You thought it'll only be us?" Byakuya calmly answered back. And, in a mere second, four other new figures appeared by their side; Yamamoto, Kyouraku, Ukitake and a little battered up Hitsugaya. The older Kuchiki was now the one who smugly smirk, "think again."

"You okay there, Toshiro?" Ichigo asked, eyes still rooted to Aizen. He finally let out a small expression, seeing the leader of Shinigami was also there, okay and well and without any scratch.

" _It's Hitsugaya to you!"_ the snow white-haired child snapped. He let out a short wheeze, "I'm fine. I succeed in making Gin thought I was defeated. I have enough power to help you from the sidelines."

"Aizen Sosuke," Yamamoto started speaking, his voice rumbled and let out an incredible power, "for trying to kill one of the Shinigami, killing the Central 46, and doing an illegal experiment to the previous captain and frame another innocent one, you're not only incurred the wrath of Soul King. But also the Mistress of Death" the captains sucked on their breath. And Aizen involuntarily gulped _(he just wanted to kill the Soul King and reformed the Soul Society. Not to attracted unnecessary attention from the Mistress)_. Yamamoto's eyes opened and pupil contracted, every Shinigami present readied their sword, "as such, you're hereby punished and will be executed right at this instant."

"Face the consequence."

And they _moved_.

* * *

They failed to catch the traitors, though at least he didn't get the Hyougoku he wanted for years to finished whatever deranged plan he plotted.

Toshiro fell unconscious, stamina finally depleted to zero the moment the danger was gone. Ichigo instantly moved his body to catch him before the child faceplanted onto the ground.

Yamamoto declared a job well done and a week rest for everybody

* * *

Rukia woke up from her rest, body still weak from the extraction. She saw Byakuya sat on the small stool, looking at her with nothing but grief.

"I'm sorry, sister."

She weakly smiled and grasped his hand, in which Byakuya tightened the hold, didn't want to let go, "it's okay, brother. It's okay."

"I forgive you."

* * *

Ichigo put the phone on his ear and pulled it away the second—

" _ICHIGO-CHAAAN!"_

—a scream rang.

Ichigo, annoyed, asked, "what is it, Tony?"

"I heard from the Mistress. Did you really fight in a war?! Everything alright? You didn't die, right? Well duh, of course, you don't, you just answered my phone," he let out a huffed, amused by the man's behavior. His rambling halted to a stop and the concern was palpable, "are you _really_ okay?"

"I am, Tony. You don't have to fret. My friends are here to help."

"Thank God," he whispered, the tone sounded tired. Ichigo hoped the man didn't tire his body out by worrying over him, "what about Rukia-chan? Is she okay?"

Ichigo watched from the ajar door, as the older Kuchiki hugged his sister, and let out a small smile, "yes. She's okay."

"She's going to be just fine."

* * *

 **END**

* * *

 _Reviews are appreciated_

 **Best Regards**

 **Akabane Kazama**


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